I am heartened by the attention being garnered by Timothy Ferriss’ new book, The 4-Hour Workweek. As the texture of all of our lives has been complexified by information overload, Ferriss has been one of the first credible voices to say, Whoa.
From the New York Times:
Mr. Ferriss has seen his book quickly become a best seller, largely on the strength of blog chatter in the tech community. Subsequently, he has become a pet guru of Silicon Valley, precisely by preaching apostasy in the land of shiny gadgets: just pull the plug. Crawl out from beneath the reams of data. Stand firm against the torrent of information.
His methods include practicing “selective ignorance” — tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters)…Once the e-clutter is cleared away, he argues, there will be plenty of time to scuba dive the Blue Hole in Belize, just as he does.
Or at least fantasize about it…
Jason Hoffman, a founder of Joyent, which designs Web-based software for small businesses, urged his employees to cut out the instant-messaging and swear off multitasking. From now on, he told them, severely restrict e-mail use and conduct business the old-fashioned way, by telephone.
“All of a sudden,” Mr. Hoffman said of the results, “their evenings are free. All of a sudden Monday doesn’t feel so overwhelming…”
“BlackBerrys and e-mail aren’t inherently bad,” Ferriss said. “It’s just like medicine: it’s the dose that makes the poison.”
I used to be a technowolf, seduced by gadgetry and the toy value of technology that has been delivered steadily since the PC was introduced in the early 80s. But a few years ago I stepped off that train. I have had to close more doors than I have opened just to stay afloat. I’ve had to cut way back on that “first to know” need in a number fields like politics, news, science, film, publishing, fiction. A wise friend once described the second half of life as the time when you finally know what you like and what you do well, and so now you just have to do it.
Blogging, increasingly more ubiquitous, also needs the pruner’s touch. I now rely on the finds of trusted others more than trolling on my own. And I agree with Ferriss when he prioritizes the range of possibilities facing him:
“I’d be much better off putting my time into three or four really good blog posts.”
Amen.
10 comments
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November 13, 2007 at 3:16 am
Elatia Harris
I read that Suze Ohrman has “her people” recast all incoming emails so that when they reach her, she has only to reply either “Yes” or “No.” While my heart leaps that I am not employed as one of her people, and my head questions whether intelligent communications can be reduced to such queries (if they can, it should be tried out on Hillary…), I’m almost with her.
The trouble is that concision is far more painstaking than wordiness, so that a perfect short email, the very distillate of process, can take more time than just keyboarding away in the confidence that your inchoate message will not be too miasmal to be read and understood.
One thinks of Pascal’s apology for a too-long letter: “Forgive the length of this letter — I had not the time to make it short.” Self-editing is a chore, one reason why logorrhea spews from every electronic portal. The more severely restricted emailing becomes along the lines that Ferriss envisions, the more editorial overhead must be involved, so that eventually there is drastically more work for drastically less output. And it is at that point that everyone in Cubicle Nation may feel like a real writer.
November 13, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Cyril Barot
Information overload certainly is quite a load. Thanks to http://www.timferriss.com, I could gather quite a number of good pointers on that.
November 13, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Deborah Barlow
E, Such good thoughts on the effort to be concise and the fact that few of us have those gifts and/or skills (which has resulted in the online problem of TMI and TMW–too many words.) Perhaps you know of the blog called 101 Reasons to Stop Writing: Confronting the pandemic delusion of talent. (http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/)
What struck me particularly in the article on Ferriss is the enslavement of 24/7 accessibility. It’s hard to modulate when everyone knows you are Blackberryable at any time. I’m so fierce about my privacy I can’t imagine being tethered so tight.
Thank you Cyril for the heads up on Tim’s own site. I’ll take a look.
November 13, 2007 at 6:30 pm
alaleh
very much to the point in interesting ways… thanx for sharing.
xox
November 13, 2007 at 10:51 pm
the individual voice
I love the word logorhhea, Elatia. I will have to add it to may favorite word list which I was starting today with mellifluous, pellucid, and that helpful Yiddish word “farcocked.” And Deborah, all of your recent blog posts have been exceptionally inspirational and packed with stimulating ideas. I think I have been gradually moving towards more quantity and lower quality. Shorter, less thoughtful posts, but lots more of them. Like sound bytes. I think I get reinforced by the bigger blogosphere response to quick blasts. Then again, I slapped a really long short story on my blog today, one I wrote a year ago that needs work. I’m always testing out what people will and won’t read and respond to. But frankly, if I had to cut out anything in my life in would be my paid professional job. I want time to just be.
November 13, 2007 at 11:42 pm
MadSilence
Just this week I had some long conversations with my spouse & one or two old friends concerning WHY WE ARE ALWAYS SO BUSY. One common theme dealt with the information overload that has “complexified” (is that really a word?) our lives. A proposed solution: Step back a bit & reduce the input. Turn off CNN, reduce the internet surfing, and yes, even cut back on the blogging. Go to places where technology isn’t: the park, the beach, a show, an art exhibit, etc. Get together with friends for an old-fashioned game night. I received Netflix as a gift & have been viewing old movies: Jimmy Stewart in his Capra days, Judi Dench, etc. A good way to adjust the input & realign the message. Read more & savor it. I’m reminded of The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. The thought is the thing: say you are burdened by responsibilities & it is so.
MadSilence
November 13, 2007 at 11:49 pm
MadSilence
Just read Deborah Barlow’s comment: Excellent link to 101 Reasons to Stop Writing: Confronting the pandemic delusion of talent.
A serious question for every blogger:
Does what we write improve upon the silence?
MadSilence
November 14, 2007 at 12:12 am
Aria
I definitly know I am too connected and too plugged in. I can’t sleep with out the TV on (usually on CNN or BBC), check my email and facebook a million times a day, even via cell phone. I tried cutting down and I get edgy, fidgety and sleepless. This is what’s wrong with todays society.
November 14, 2007 at 12:31 am
Deborah Barlow
Every one of us has strategies to both manage the excess and bask in it as well. This topic is so personal and yet it has global quality of life implications.
And yes MadSilence, complexify is a neologism. But since there’s no question that anyone would know what it means, I give myself permission to deviate from the canon…
December 15, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Idetrorce
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce